Barn-Wood Dining Table

Original joinery from the beams in the mulebarn, which I used as legs.

This part wrecked my knuckles....there is a precarious balance of force vs angle one must maintain while getting the convex spokeshave through a knot in solid white oak. One in which I failed to achieve.... many times.

This table is built out of 100% solid white oak reclaimed from an old mule barn on our farm. The barn is around 100 years old so it makes for some interesting wood, cool spalting in areas. The Dimensions are 8'x4'x31"H. The top is composed of 8 boards, so to give it some overall rigidity I used 8x50mm slip tenons every 6" between the boards along with the usual glue. The legs are composed of 6"x 4" beams from the same barn, I milled them down to 5"X 3 5/8" then shaped them by hand with , low-angle, round-bottom, and convex spokeshaves. I kept the original mortise at the bottom of each leg along with the original wooden (spike?) I removed the tenon. Breadboard ends were a necessity as this guy is sure to show movement. Doweled snug in the center cut slots towards the ends. Aprons standard mortise and tenon. Secured the top to the base with wooden cutoffs I had left over. Secured the blocks next to the legs on the short aprons with slip tenons cut wide to allow for movement, then screwed to the top to the top. Used slip mortises (not cut wide) and slotted screws next to the legs for the long aprons. So yeah the domino really came in hand on this project. Attached horse hames to all four corners through back of the aprons secured by four dowels in each. On the top I preserved areas of the original patina which show the sawmarks from the water-powered sawmill. top and aprons all finish smoothed with emmerich improved #4, had to use cabinet scraper on some knots, also used emmerich scrub plane to give it some texture in places.